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Leghold trapping

Description

Leg-hold traps capture animals in a set of jaws, holding the animal in place. This can cause pain and distress to the animal, and as such leg-hold traps are not permitted for operational feral cat control in Western Australia and must only be used with an appropriate Animal Ethics Permit. 

Who can use it?

The use of leg-hold traps in Western Australia is not permitted as an operational method. Groups may seek special exemption to use leg-hold traps for research purposes if they have an Animal Ethics Permit and can show risk mitigation for other species in the area. 

If granted permission to use leg-hold traps, PestSmart provide a standard operating procedure for the trapping of feral cats using padded-jaw traps.

If you wish to trap for feral cats, another option is using cage traps.

Permitting and legislative requirements

  • Leg-hold traps are not permitted for feral cat control in Western Australia, under the Animal Welfare Act section 19(2)(b), as they are considered inhumane.
  • Approval must be granted by the Animal Ethics Committee to use leghold traps for research purposes. Options for obtaining an Animal Ethics Approval include: collaboration with a university or DBCA, who can submit an application to their own Animal Ethics Committees, or independently via DPIRD’s new Community Animal Ethics Committee (contact [email protected] ).

Further Reading

Read more about trapping in our Bibliography

Find out more

Image credits on this page

Judy Dunlop

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